Farmer cut off from his own land by railroad

A Monroe farmer has waited four years for a railroad crossing to be installed on his property so he can access his livestock.

Author:
KING Staff

Published:
4:39 AM PDT March 14, 2017

MONROE, Wash. -- A Monroe farmer has waited four years for a railroad crossing to be installed on his property so he can access his livestock.

He's still waiting.

When Jody Kerr bought the farm along Highway 2 in Monroe, he knew there was an issue with the railroad tracks that run through his property.

The issue is how to get across them.

Kerr's animals graze on the other side of the tracks, but he can't drive across them without risking getting stuck.

"The last thing I want to do is drive a pick-up truck across the tracks and get stuck there," he said.

Instead of driving hundreds of pounds of hay and water directly to his livestock, Kerr has to carry it across the tracks by hand. He then loads it onto a trailer that he moves across the tracks with a forklift.

"This adds two to three hours to my day, every day," said Kerr. "I don't think I've been dry since September."

A simple solution would be for the railroad to install a small crossing.

Kerr agreed to pay for it, and the railroad signed off, but that was four years ago, and it still hasn't been installed.

"We're small potatoes to the railroad. We've gotten lost in the process," said Kerr. "All they need to install are 14 railroad ties and 28 bolts. I've gotten one response in nine months, and it was basically that they're behind schedule."